USA > Pennsylvania > Erie County > North East > The centennial commemoration of the founding of the First Presbyterian Church, of North East, Pennsylvania > Part 7
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The dear people in the pews are not exhausting the gray matter of the brain and dying of nervous prostration in their effort to remember sermons. After ten years Dr. Robinson could have put a new collar and a pair of new cuffs on an old sermon and they would have declared it was the best sermon they ever heard! But was it any wonder that for years he suf- fered with the awful fight between his stomach and brain?
My first acquaintance with Dr. Robinson began with his vis- its here at his old home. He came to get the ozone of his na- tive air, and brace up his fagged out mind and body. 1 was al- ways near enough to ask this tired worker to preach for me for the sake of a patient and long suffering congregation! I shall never forget this uniform kindness to a village preacher who was frightened at the idea of preaching before such a noted man. I found my fear was needless, for when I learned to know him as a Christian brother, one in perfect sympathy with myself and church, "love cast out fear."
Dr. Robinson believed with Dr. Cuyler that the best va- cation was spent in some small place, helping the tired pastor with a little of his "dried tongue." Mrs. Robinson would of- ten give the doctor a curtain lecture for preaching when he need- ed rest. But he had the best of the argument, for he would answer. "It is not the preaching but the preparation that drives nails into a man's coffin. I feel far better to preach than to be idle." I well remember his vacation in the summer of cast. I eagerly inquired the cause of his trouble. He said a message in his hand. He looked exceedingly sad and down- cast. I eagerly inquired the cause of his trouble. He said 'T have just received word that Prof. Samuel J. Wilson of the Sem- inary is dead, and ! am worried as a director how to fill his place." I said to him, "I have the man selected now." "Who?" he asked, greatly excited. I said, "Dr. Thomas H. Robinson."
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He stared at me for a moment and the blood rushed to his face, and he said, "no, that will never do." He showed his modesty and I honored him for it, but the button was pressed and the Board of Trustees did the rest at the next election.
From the days of the sainted Dr. Plumer down to the elec- tion of Dr. Robinson, the professorship of Pastoral Theology had been neglected, although one of the most important func- tions of a school of the prophets. The students needed a man from the busy pastorate, and not from the cloister. Thev wanted a man full of experience, of sanctified common sense and ripe in grace, to mark out the rocks and shoals of the young pas- tor's life. They needed the sympathy of a big hearted man, whose best years had been in active church work. They found it all in Dr. Robinson. He was also Professor of Sacred Rhet- oric. Sermonizing was to be their life work. They might get along without Greek or Hebrew, but this was the "Sine qua non," the essential study of the whole course. Thirty years of sermonizing, in one of the most intelligent churches made him the fit man for the place, a worthy successor to Dr. William M. Paxton. When I read in the Banner a few weeks ago that Dr. Robinson had been Professor in the Seminary seventeen years it was hard to realize. . How time speeds on and the crow's feet and gray hairs multiply! Fifteen years as alumnus, twelve years as a director, and seventeen years as a professor! \\ hat a noble and useful life has been evolved from that North East boy, who like the father of the faithful, went out, not knowing whither he went, or what he should become. On his re- tirement from the position he held so long and well, the Board of Directors passed the following resolutions:
"We canet allow Dr. Robinson to retire from active par- ticipation in the work of our Seminary without recording our appreciation of his fidelity, ability and uniform courtesy. And to mark our esteem and exhibit, in some measure, the honor in which we holdt him, we recommend that he be continned in the Faculty as Professor Emeritus of the Reunion Chair of Pastoral Theology, Church Government, and Sacred Rhetoric."
A lady ones said she could sum up the life of John Quincy Adams in five words. Those five words will express my esti-
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mate of the life and character of this worthy son of a noble church :
"Par negotiis neque supra."
(Equal to duty, but not above it.)
Your committee gave me only ten minutes to give the his- tory of eight of her noble sons. Had I obeyed the law laid down, you would have concluded the sons of this church played a small part in this great historic gathering. I will take up the other five in less than ten minutes.
Dr. Nathaniel West comes next. He is not, in a sense, a son of this church. He was born in England and was here as a boy during his father's pastorate. Dr. West became a great
man. He was the pastor of some of our most important churches east and west. He was professor of Sacred and Ecclesi- astical History at the Danville Seminary. When I met him at the General Assembly in 1889, at New York, he did not seem to remember very much of North East. He could remember a boy he played with by the name of William Selkregg, but that was all. Dr. West was a great ecclesiastical lawyer, and I presume no one in our church appealed so many cases from the lower courts to the General Assembly.
Whilst he was a fine scholar he was not a brilliant preacher. He was logical, combative, and ponderous. He has a son who is a professor at Princeton.
He is living at Clifton Springs, N. Y., at the age of 75 years.
We come now to the younger sons of the church. The first in point of age is the Rev. Frank J. Nash. You all know his history and I shall be forced to say less than I had intended for the want of time. He was born in Ohio in 1852. Whilst not in fact to the manor born, he came here at four years of age. His spiritual birth place is in this church. He entered the fresh- man class of Allegheny College in 1870, but was removed from there to a college started in North East, called the Lake Shore Seminary. He graduated in 1874, but remained as one of the teachers for several years.
When his Ahna Mater died of too much mortgage. Alle- gheny College took back the motherless boy, and gave him the degree of A. M. Mir. Nash has a very active mind and is a duent speaker.
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As a nieniber of the church he was an all round worker. He was always in demand to use his gift as a public speaker at home and abroad. He felt that he ought to consecrate his talents to the Master. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Erie, under our new law. as an Evangelist. A candidate for this church took a fancy to hini and made arrangements by which the Con- gregational Church ordained and installed him over a small church at Chipacket, R. I. No place could have been better for a beginner.
. After six years of faithful work here, he was called to Paw- tucket, R. 1., a city of 40,000 and a church membership of 300. Christ recognized the truth that a prophet is not honored much at home, but Frank seems to have plenty of it in his New Eng- land home. Brother Nash, like all the sons of the church, has common sense and tact. As a pastor he is cheerful, and always at his best, "a hale fellow well met." In the homes of his peo- ple he does not do all the talking, but is a close sympathetic listener. He listens to their "tales of woe" but never burdens them with his. Rev. Mr. Nash, for the time he has been in the work, has been more successful than the two pastors from whom he gathered his inspiration and his orthodox theology.
We now come to the sixth son of the church, and a son of the most cultured pastor in the history of the church.
Rev. Augustus S. Carrier was born not at North East, but at Ripley, .N. Y. He graduated at Yale in 1870. Received his theological training at Hartford, Conn., in 1884. He was licensed to preach by the Congregational Council of Hartford and ordained by the Presbytery of Indianapolis in 1884. He was Stated Supply of the Bloomington church, Indiana, from 1884 to 1885. Ile is now Professor of Hebrew and Cognate Languages in McCormick Theological Seminary, Chicago. Par- sons College, lowa, gave him the degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1803.
It ought to be noted by you all and remembered with pride that three of the sons of this church became professors in our Theological Seminaries. As these younger sons have yet to win their spurs, we will say more about them at the next Cen- tennial.
Rev. William Henry Oxtoby was born in North East some- time during the pastorate of his father, between the years 1870 and 1880. He is not only a son of the church, but of the manse.
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He received his education at the University of Michigan and graduated at McCormick Seminary in 1895. At McCor- mick Seminary he won a fellowship by his good scholarship which entitled him to a post-graduate course at Jena and Berlin, Germany. After his return in 1897 he was ordained by the Presbytery of Grand Rapids and installed over the fine church of six hundred members at Muncie, Ind.
Last but not least is the name of F. G. Ensign, a kinsman of your townsman and fellow member, W. A. Ensign. F. H. Ensign was born at North East, July, 1837. His parents were Frederick and Huldah Ensign, and they were among the first settlers of Litchfield, Conn. In 1844 this son of the church re- moved with his parents to Illinois. His boyhood days were spent on a pioneer farm. He received his education at Beloit College, Wisconsin. In 1861 he entered McCormick Seminary.
Like almost all the rest of the sons of this church he had to contend with poverty. He paid his way in the seminary by acting as janitor. After two years at the Seminary, in 1863, there was an urgent call for Christian work in Grant's army, which was then at Vicksburg. He was in the employ of the American Tract Society at $20 per month.
After the war. in 1866, he finished his course at the Semin- ary. I find no account of his being licensed to preach, although he had taken the whole course of study. I presume the reason was in the fact that in 1870 he was elected Superintendent of the American Sunday School Union for the great northwest, and did not seek a local church.
He is simply called plain Mr. F. G. Ensign. If Beloit Col- lege did not seek to honor itself by giving this modern Barnabas a title, I will confer the degree of D. D. and LL. D. upon this noble man of a church one hundred years old. He began his work with seven missionaries and now there are over eighty.
Fifty thousand persons were brought to Christ and over a thousand churches organized of almost all denominations, through the agency of his Sabbath school work.
We should praise God to-night that one of the sons of this church has lived such a devoted, useful life, leaving the impress of his life and character upon ministers, missionaries, and Sab- bath school teacher- all over the northwest.
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In attempting to condense such a life, we belittle the uni- versal, heroic deeds of one of God's most useful servants. What is time for, and what is it worth if it cannot be used in doing simple justice to the men who went out to work for God and man and honor the history of this church? If this church had never been instrumental in saving hundreds of souls, had it never given thousands of dollars to build up Christ's Kingdom on earth, had it done nothing, in the hundred years of its history, but send out these eight sons, the recording angel would have written in the book of remembrance: "Well done, good and faithful servants."
DUET-Mrs. Eggleston and Mrs. Swaney. Selected.
NOTE-The paper prepared by the Rev. F. W. Hays on The Living Ex-Pastors of the Church and read at the An- niversary was unfortunately and unaccountably lost while in the editor's hands. Ile has undertaken to supply the deficiency as well as he could under many disadvantages.
It has also been a matter of mingled pride and affection to write a paper on the Deceased Elders of the Church. He was led to it not only by the high and worthy character of the men, and their noble work for the church, but by the fact that of the twenty-five men in the honored roll of the Ruling Elders of this church no less than twelve are related to the writer by blood or by marriage. " His claim for kinship with the North East Church is a cherished one. Of the nineteen pastors he saw and knew all but four and of the twenty-five Elders he saw and knew more or less fully all but one.
This church owes a large debt of grateful memory not alone to the men who in its pastorate gave themselves to its welfare and have since passed to their rewards, but also to the honored men who having fulfilled their mission here are still serving the Church Militant, some of them by active labors and others in the quiet retirement of advanced years. They also have entered into the history of this church and done their part in promoting its growth and shaping its character.
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NOTE ON THE LIVING EX-PASTORS OF THE FIRST PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH,
By Rev. T. H. Robinson.
Rev. James Cochran was a native of the North of Ireland and received his collegiate and theological education abroad, coming to the United States but a short time before he was called to the pastorate of the Presbyterian Church in North East, in 1850. He served the church for less than two years when he removed to Minnesota, where he carried on his ministry for some years. He is now retired from active life in his profession and resides at Minneapolis. His stay in North East was too brief to leave a strong and lasting impression upon the church and the community.
Rev. Augustus H. Carrier, D. D., was born March 2d, 1831, in the town of Canton, Hartford County, Conn. His college studies were pursued at Yale College, where he graduated in 1851. The following two years were spent partly in teaching and in a sojourn at the south. He entered Andover Theo- logical Seminary in 1854, but, without concluding the full course at Andover, pursued his studies still further at Union Seminary, New York, and also at the Divinity School of the Congregational Church in New Haven, Conn. He was licensed to preach on June 6, 1855, by "The Associated Pastors of New Haven Centre," and was ordained on Jan. 27, 1856, by a council of New Haven ministers antChurches. During the year 1857 he served as Stated Supply in one of the Presbyterian Churches of Paris, Kentucky. Early in the spring of 1858 he was called to become the Stated Supply of the Presbyterian Church at North East and began his labors here in March, 1858. During his pas- toral work here a new brick church was erected in place of the oki frame building that had fulfilled an honorable service during nearly forty years. . Alr. Carrier's labors in North East con- tinved from 1858 to the close of the year 1863, when he accepted a call to the Congregational Church in Auburndale, Mass. November, 1866, by reason of ill health in his family he resigned his charge and removed to Minneapolis, where carly in 1867 he became pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of that city,
REV. JAMES COCHRAN, 1850 to 1852.
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serving it until the spring of 1871. He then accepted a call to the First Presbyterian Church of Erie, Pa., and remained in charge of this church until early in 1879. During that year he was called to the Fourth Presbyterian Church of Indianapolis and accepting the call served the church until June, 1885. After spending a year abroad with his family, he was invited to the pastoral charge of the Presbyterian Church in Santa Barbara, Cal., and became its pastor in 1886, and after fourteen years of congenial and faithful service, he retired from active service and became Pastor Emeritus. He still resides in Santa Barbara, en- joying a happy and honored old age.
Dr. Carrier was greatly beloved by the North East congre- gation and the tie between him and the people was severed with mutual regret. His character as a man and as a minister of the Gospel won the confidence and great regard of all who knew him. He was invariably courteous and affable in social life, greatly devoted to his calling, a lover of his fellow men, a trusted and faithful pastor, and a preacher of marked ability and power. His warm and glowing letter read at the Centennial Anniversary is characteristic of this servant of God and of man. His son, Prof. Augustus S. Carrier, D. D., of McCormick Theological Seminary, adds new honors to the name of this beloved ex-pastor of the North East Church.
Rev. Thomas Boyd Hudson, D. D. Mr. Hudson was born in Auburn, N. Y., on the 5th day of July, 1826. He graduated from Hamilton College in 1851, received from his Alma Mater the degree of M. A. in 1854 and of D. D. in 1892. He was a tu- tor in Hamilton College from January, 1854, to July, 1856. Choos- ing the ministry of the Gospel for his life work he studied the- ology in Auburn Seminary, graduating in 1859. He was li- censed to preach by the Presbytery of Cayuga in 1858, and or- dained by the same Presbytery in January, 1860. His first pas- toral charge was at Union Springs, N. Y., from July, 1859, to No- vember, 1861. when he became chaplain of the 75th Regiment, N. Y. Volunteers, serving in that capacity for about one year, when failing health compelled him to resign. He then served the Presbyterian Church in Fulton, N. Y., for thirteen months, during the absence of the pastor of that church as a chaplain in the army.
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In January, 1864, he accepted the call to the pastorate of the Presbyterian Church in North East, Pa., remaining in that charge until September, 1869. In October, 1869, he entered upon the pastorate of the Presbyterian Church in Clinton, N. Y. This relationship continued until October, 1891, a period of 22 years. He has continued to reside in Clinton since that time.
In 1884 he was elected a trustee of Hamilton College and in 1885 was made secretary of the board and a year later was made also the treasurer of the college. This position he still holds, his bow abiding in strength at the age of seventy-six.
Dr. Hudson's pastorate of the North East Church was a most acceptable and successful one, honored of men and openly approved by God. He won and held to the last the warm love of his people and was beloved by his brethren in the ministry of his own and of other churches. He was an excellent preacher of the Gospel, clear, winning, and sympathetic in his presentations of the truth. He was a prince among pastors, genial, brotherly, ready to bear every man's burdens and carry every man's sor- row. All classes and all ages were sure of his friendliness. The gentleness of his Divine Master was in him. It is not strange that in a late letter he thus writes: "The pastorate of the dear old church in North East was to me and my family a most delightful one, and many of the pleasantest recollections of my life are con- nccted with that charge. Friendships were there formed which I am sure will never be interrupted in this world or in the world to come." Into the web and woof of the spiritual history and character of this church, the happy influence of Dr. Hudson's character and life have been inseparably woven.
Rev. John Thomas Oxtoby, D. D .- Mr. Oxtoby gradu- ated from Washington College in 1864 and completed his theological course in the Western Theological Seminary, Al- legheny, Pa., in 1867. He was licensed to preach the Gospel in April, 1866, by the Presbytery of Butler, and was ordained by the Presbytery of Eric. July, 1867. He was pastor at Petroleum Center from 1867 to 1870, when he accepted a call to the church at North East and served it until 1879. He was then called to the Warren Avenue Presbyterian Church, East Saginaw, Michigan, where he continued his ministry from 1880 to as a pastor and
REV. FRANK W. HAYS, PH. D, 1894 to 1896.
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since relinquishing his charge as an evangelist. During the nine years of Mr. Oxtoby's ministry at North East, his faithful and earnest devotion to the church, his character as a man, and his great acceptableness as preacher and pastor gave him a place of power in the community. His letter to the church at the Centennial Anniversary shows how greatly he appreciated the many friendships he formed while here.
Cyrus J. Hunter, D. D., was born in Cadiz, O., May 31, 1836. He graduated from Franklin College, O., in 1861, and after a three-years' course, from the Western Theological Semi- nary, Allegheny, Pa., in 1864. He was licensed to preach the Gospel by the Presbytery of St. Clairsville, O., in April, 1863, and ordained by the Presbytery of Steubenville, O., in April, 1865. His first pastorate was in New Philadelphia, O., from 1865 to 1871. Ile became pastor at Denison, O., in 1871, serving that church until the year 1880. He was then called to the First Presbyterian Church in North East, where he preached for four- teen years, from 1880 to 1894, without being regularly installed. During the year 1895 he was called to be pastor at C'hrichsville, (., where he still resides.
During the fourteen years of his connection with the church in North East he was recognized as an able and earnest preacher of the Gospel and was deservedly popular. The church grew under his laber and fostering care in numbers and in efficiency. His pastorate was the longest in the history of the church.
Rev. Frank Winfield Hays was born at Industry, Pa., Oc- tober 21, 1861 He graduated from Grove City College in 1887 and pursued his course in theology for three years, 1887-1890, at the Western Theological Seminary, Allegheny, Pa. He was li- censed to preach the Gospel by the Presbytery of Butler April 24, 1880, and ordained by the same Presbytery April 23, 1800. During his course of study at the Seminary he carried on his work as professor of mathematics at Grove City College and for four years longer to 1894 gave his whole time to the college. In the year 1894 he accepted the pastorate of the North East Church and remained there for two years, when he returned to his pro- fessorship at Grove City, where he still remains. Mr. Hays as
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a student, professor, and pastor has revealed fine qualities of mind and heart and has won a wide and merited esteen.
Rev. Robert Lewis Williams, the immediate predecessor of the present pastor, was born in Mercer County, Pa., October 13, 1864, and pursued his studies at Grove City College, and entered the Western Theological Seminary in 1889, completing his. course there in 1892, holding a high rank as a scholar at both college and seminary. He was licensed by the Presbytery of Butler on April 29, 1892, and ordained by the Presbytery of Blairsville on April 30, 1892, and on June 7, 1892 was installed as pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Derry. He served this church until his call to the church at North East, where he was installed in November, 1896. . In October, 1900, he accepted a call to the Lake Street Presbyterian Church, of Elmira, N. Y. The memory of Mr. Williams's pastorate will be held dear in this church for many years. He was recognized as one of the most gifted and eloquent of the men who have filled the pulpit of the church and the regrets of his departure are still keenly felt. Dur- ing his pastorate many were added to the church.
FUTURE POSSIBILITIES OF OUR CHURCH-Rev. R. Lewis Williams.
A few weeks ago, when preparing the program for a popu- lar meeting of Presbytery, I wrote a note to a minister, asking him to deliver an address on the probable features of Christian activity in the twentieth century. He replied, "I don't know anything about the features of Christian activity in the twentieth century. A hundred years from now I might tell something about them. But I am willing to do the best I can toward pointing out what I think they ought to be."
To-day I do not know what the North East church will be in the twentieth century, or what it will do. But in common with you all, I hold some ideas of what it may be and do. It is easier to tell what has been than what shall be. You are on more certain ground. And yet. I like the forward look. [ believe I would always rather speak of the possibilities.
Indeed it is the chief duty of life to look forward. True, much of the message of to-day calls us to look backward. We are reminded that we owe the past a duty. A right use of the
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REV. R. L. WILLIAMS, 1896 to 1900,
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past is a moral uplift, and an equipment for the future. We are to search the past and appreciate it. We are to exalt its vir- tues, and govern its fruitage, and reincorporate its wealth of thoughit and experience, and transmit its good to posterity.
On this centennial day, we rejoice in the hundred years of a magnificent history of this splendid church. We honor the men and women who made this history. We thank God for the record.
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